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A fraudulent appraisal "can lead homeowners to borrow more money than their homes are worth, putting themselves at risk of being 'upside down' in a home -- e.g. not being able to sell for a high enough price to pay off their mortgage," according to a briefing paper on appraisal fraud put out by

Americans owe $800 billion in credit card debt, more than triple the amount from 1989, and a 31 percent increase from five years ago, according to a recent report, "The Plastic Safety Net," by the Center for Responsible Lending, and Demos, a research group based in New York. The study found that a

A major survey released by the think tank Demos provides some important new insights on how average American families are using credit cards. The implication is hard to escape: many middle- and low-income American families are using consumer credit as a way to weather fluctuations in their finances.

Demos, a non-partisan election reform group, said higher voter turnout, especially among youth, reversed a decades-old trend of low electoral participation. The group said about 120 million voted in the Nov. 2 election, an increase of 15 million voters from 2000. Election Day registration, or EDR

That all portends "payment shock" for those with adjustable-rate mortgages whose loans are due soon to adjust, said Javier Silva, senior research and policy associate with the public policy research group Demos in New York City. "Lots of ARM customers are experiencing payment shock already, and we

For the first time since its decision in Buckley v. Valeo nearly 30 years ago, the Supreme Court has agreed to review the  constitutionality of campaign spending limits.  The case,  Randall v.  Sorrell, No. 04-1528, raises issues that go to the heart of our democracy.  Vermont’s comprehensive reform

According to Javier Silva, a senior research and policy associate with Demos, a New York think tank and public policy organization, homeowners' equity fell from an average of 68.3 percent to 55 percent between 1973 and 2004. Americans now own a smaller stake in their homes than they used to. In the

According to a Demos study, Americans from 2001 to 2003 cashed out $333 billion in equity from their homes. Many did so to pay off credit card debt and finance ongoing living expenses -- both good and noble financial causes. The study concluded that Americans own less of their homes today than they

Professor Robert Frank of Cornell University, the author of Luxury Fever, compares conspicuous consumption in an economy like ours to the military arms race, and we already know that's destined to end in mutually assured destruction. The key to countering this headlong rush towards ever-more

Testimony on the need to restore Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act’s protections against purposeful racial discrimination in jurisdictions that are subject to the Section 5 preclearance requirement.